Meta is shutting down Messenger Lite, its light-weight stripped-down model of Messenger, the corporate confirmed to TechCrunch. Customers of the app are beginning to see a message that advises them to “use Messenger to maintain chatting.” The app has been faraway from the Google Play Retailer for brand new customers and can now not be obtainable after September 18 for present customers.
“Beginning August 21, individuals utilizing the Messenger Lite app for Android shall be directed to Messenger or FB Lite to ship and obtain messages on Messenger,” a Meta spokesperson informed TechCrunch in an e-mail.
Meta, generally known as Fb on the time, launched Messenger Lite for Android in 2016 for customers with less-powerful Android gadgets. The app affords solely the core options Messenger to be able to hog much less space for storing and processing energy.
Though Meta launched Messenger Lite for iOS, the corporate shut it down in 2020.
In response to cellular analytics agency knowledge.ai, the Lite variations of the app had mixed downloads estimated at roughly 760 million globally, with India accounting for the only largest portion, adopted by Brazil and Indonesia. America ranked No. 8 by lifetime downloads.
The information comes as Meta just lately introduced that Messenger is dropping SMS assist subsequent month. The corporate notified customers that they “will now not be capable of use Messenger to ship and obtain SMS messages despatched by your mobile community while you replace your app after September 28, 2023.”
Earlier this week, Meta stated it plans to allow end-to-end encryption by default for Messenger by the tip of this yr. The tech large can be increasing its take a look at of end-to-end encryption options to “thousands and thousands extra individuals’s chats.”